Advanced Programming in

the UNIX Environment

Department of Computer Science
Stevens Institute of Technology

Jan Schaumann
[email protected]
https://stevens.netmeister.org/631/
 CS631 - Advanced Programming in the UNIX Environment

About this class

This class is called "Advanced Programming in the UNIX Environment".

It is not called:

• "An Introduction to Unix"

• "What Even Is A Programming?"
• "Teach Yourself C Programming in 24 Hours!"

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 CS631 - Advanced Programming in the UNIX Environment

This class in a nutshell: the "what"

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 CS631 - Advanced Programming in the UNIX Environment

This class in a nutshell: the "what"

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 CS631 - Advanced Programming in the UNIX Environment

This class in a nutshell: the "what"

• gain an understanding of Unix operating systems

• gain (systems) programming experience
• understand fundamental OS concepts (with focus on Unix family):
• multi-user concepts
• basic and advanced I/O
• process relationships
• interprocess communications
• basic network programming using a client/server model

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 CS631 - Advanced Programming in the UNIX Environment

This class in a nutshell: the "why"

• understanding how Unix works gives you insights in other OS concepts

• system level programming experience is invaluable as it forms the basis for most
other programming and even use of the system
• system level programming in C helps you understand general programming concepts
• most higher level programming languages (eventually) call (or implement themselves)
standard C library functions

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 CS631 - Advanced Programming in the UNIX Environment

This class in a nutshell: the "how"

Our reference platform is NetBSD 9.0.

You may choose to develop on e.g., your laptop running another OS, but you must
make sure that your code compiles and runs flawlessly on NetBSD 9.0 using the
system provided compiler (gcc 7.4.0).

Instructions for how to install NetBSD 9.0 in a VirtualBox VM can be found here:
https://stevens.netmeister.org/631/virtualbox/

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 CS631 - Advanced Programming in the UNIX Environment

This class in a nutshell: the "how"

•https://stevens.netmeister.org/631/#source-code

•https://stevens.netmeister.org/631/compare-code-exercise.html
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 CS631 - Advanced Programming in the UNIX Environment

This class in a nutshell: the "how"

We will write a fair bit of code in this class.

Writing code is communication.

Make sure your code is:

• clearly structured
• well-formatted
• uses a consistent coding style (indentation, placement of braces, etc.)
• variables, functions etc. are sensibly named
• comments are used only when necessary, explaining the why, not the how

See also: https://stevens.netmeister.org/631/style

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 CS631 - Advanced Programming in the UNIX Environment

About this class

Textbook:
"Advanced Programming in the UNIX® Environment", Third Edition, by W. Richard
Stevens, Stephen A. Rago

Grading:
• course participation, course notes: 50 points
• 2 smaller homework assignments, worth 25 points each
• 1 midterm project, worth 100 points
• 1 final project (group work), worth 200 points
• 1 final programming assignment (individual), worth 100 points

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 CS631 - Advanced Programming in the UNIX Environment

Course Notes and Participation

• create a git repository with a single text file for each lecture
• before each lecture, note:
• what you read, what code exercises you completed
• what questions you have
• after each lecture, note:
• answers you’ve found, or especially interesting new things you learned
• what questions remain
• what new questions arose
• follow up on unanswered questions in class or on the mailing list
• at the end of the semester, submit all your notes
https://stevens.netmeister.org/631/course-notes.html
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 CS631 - Advanced Programming in the UNIX Environment

About this class

You are responsible for your work as well as your time management. If you run into
challenges, contact me as soon as possible and we will work something out.

There will be no extra-credit assignments, but you may resubmit your work to address
any problems identified to improve your grade.

You are responsible for your own work. You may not present as your own the ideas,
code, or code samples of another, even if those are available on the internet. Any
incidents of plagiarism and copyright infringement will be reported to the Dean of
Graduate Academics.

https://stevens.netmeister.org/631/#cheating
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 CS631 - Advanced Programming in the UNIX Environment

Syllabus

• Introduction, UNIX history, UNIX Programming Basics

• File I/O, File Sharing
• Files and Directories
• Filesystems, System Data Files, Time & Date
• UNIX tools: make(1), gdb(1), revision control, etc.
• Process Environment, Process Control
• Process Groups, Sessions, Signals
• Interprocess Communication
• Daemon Processes, shared libraries
• Advanced I/O: Nonblocking I/O, Polling, and Record Locking
• Encryption
• Code reading, coding style, best practices
• Review
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 CS631 - Advanced Programming in the UNIX Environment

Course Resources

Course Website: https://stevens.netmeister.org/631/

Course Mailinglist: https://lists.stevens.edu/mailman/listinfo/cs631apue

Course Slack: https://cs631apue.slack.com/

Course Videos: https://v.gd/cs631apue

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 CS631 - Advanced Programming in the UNIX Environment

Homework

Before every lecture:

• review the previous week’s slides and notes

• watch the video lectures and slides for that class
• follow up with questions on the course mailing list
• prepare for class by reading the assigned chapters
• do the recommended exercises

After every lecture:

• run all examples from the video / slides
• update your class notes
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Homework

Week 1:

• make sure your class notes git repository is set up

• bookmark the course resources
• double-check that you are subscribed to the class mailing list
• customize your NetBSD VM for development
• join the course Slack channel and participate

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 CS631 - Advanced Programming in the UNIX Environment

In our next segment...

Keep your eyes open for the next video lecture covering part two of APUE Week I.

We will briefly rehash the history of the UNIX Operating System and perform a
whirlwind tour of the Unix programming environment and important features of the C
programming language.

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Jan Schaumann https://i.imgur.com/ZyeCO.jpg 2020-08-24